New Release - Anthony Hamilton

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Pop Review | Anthony Hamilton: Songs of Love & Sacredness;

Mixing Holiness and Heat

December 6, 2003

By JON PARELES

Songs became earthy sermons when Anthony Hamilton performed

on Wednesday night at the Bottom Line. He was preaching

love and loyalty: to his lover, to his mama, to his

Southern roots. And he used all the capabilities of a voice

that knows gospel and R&B strategies, from declamation to

tease, from clarion purity to a tomcat yowl to a

full-bodied falsetto.

Mr. Hamilton, who is from North Carolina, used to sing

backup for D'Angelo, one of the leaders of neo-soul. Unlike

some former backup singers, he has ample personality of his

own, with a baritone voice as supple as broken-in denims

and an eye for homey details. There are specifics amid his

flirtations and his protestations of loneliness; he

promised "cornbread, fish and collard greens" to a woman he

had his eye on. And in the title song from his new album,

"Comin' From Where I'm From" (Arista), he sang about

poverty, violence and AIDS.

On the album the songs are dutifully squeezed down to

lengths acceptable to radio stations and produced with

touches of hip-hop. Even so, the album stands above most

current rhythm-and-blues. Onstage Mr. Hamilton reached back

to Southern soul and took all the time he needed.

Slow-rolling vamps or leisurely funk carry his songs, and

he let the music gradually well up behind him. He started

almost humbly and worked his way up to long, lofty phrases.

After a dynamic crest, he sometimes let guitars and

keyboard drop away to leave just the beat and his

call-and-response with his backup singers. While they sang

steady refrains, Mr. Hamilton let his voice peal. Sometimes

he strode into the audience as if carried by the spirit.

When he sang, "Can you feel my love?" and "I want to take

you there!," he was offering amorous pleasures, but his

conviction, and his timing, came straight from the church.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/06/arts/mus...1de67ff8959afb2